Doctor Who thing: TARDIS spotted at the Iowa State Fair

The Iowa State Fair already offers a time warp for those who like to sip a freshly shaken lemonade, pitch a game of horse shoes and browse the overpriced antiques in Pioneer Hall.

But among this year’s surprise buzz-worthy attractions tucked into some odd corner of the fairgrounds is Shawn Palek’s tangible time machine. It’s on the second floor of the Cultural Center.

Just down the hall from the tie-dye fashions and barbed-wire booth, in the gallery with the candle- and bracelet-making, just across the aisle from the henna temporary tattoos — there it sits as a science-fiction oddity adrift among the folk art.

You see the happy surprise spread across the faces of certain fairgoers (the clandestine sci-fi fans among us) as they enter the room and spy the familiar blue box painted in the guise of a police phone booth from 1960s London.